Department of Justice seeks nearly five years in prison for Jan. 6 rioter from Frederick

Clara Niel, The Frederick News-Post, Md.
·3 min read
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Oct. 21—The U.S. Department of Justice is requesting that a Frederick man be sentenced to nearly five years in prison for his part in a riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, court documents say.

Nicholas Rodean, 29, was found guilty in July of seven counts of destruction of government property, disorderly conduct in a government building and physical violence on restricted grounds, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors requested that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia sentence Rodean to 57 months of incarceration followed by three years of supervised release. They also asked the court to have Rodean pay $2,048 in restitution and a mandatory $205 in court fees.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 26.

Rodean's attorney, Charles Burnham, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

On Jan. 6, 2021, a mob broke into the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to disrupt the peaceful transition of power after President Donald Trump lost the Nov. 3, 2020, election, prosecutors wrote in the memorandum.

According to the memorandum, Rodean was the 15th intruder to get in the Capitol and broke two large panes of glass in a window next to a door in the Senate wing of the Capitol. The Senate wing is on the west side of the building.

He broke the window using a flagpole with a flag attached that said "Trump is My President," prosecutors said in the memorandum. He broke more of the pane using a small round object that looked like "half a softball," the memorandum said.

Many rioters used the broken window as an entrance to get into the Capitol afterward, the memorandum said.

Once in the building, Rodean and a small group of rioters went down a hallway, where they encountered U.S. Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman. They chased him up two flights of stairs.

Goodman has gotten acclaim as the officer who led rioters away from the entrance of the Senate chamber during the Jan. 6 attack.

After pursuing Goodman, Rodean and other rioters went to a long hallway known as the Ohio Clock corridor, where they stayed for more than 40 minutes, the memorandum said. During that time, they faced other U.S. Capitol Police officers.

At one point, the memorandum said, one officer noticed the small round object in Rodean's hand. The officer convinced Rodean to put the object away, but then, Rodean pulled out a hatchet, which he said he had for self-protection. The officers convinced Rodean to put the hatchet away, as well.

Rodean told officers he was at the Capitol to "stop the steal," as they searched his bag.

The day of the attack, Rodean's supervisor at Navistar Direct Marketing, where he worked, became "concerned and angry" after seeing a picture that he believed showed Rodean in the Capitol, the memorandum said. Rodean had notified his supervisor beforehand that he would be missing work to attend Trump's rally.

Rodean's supervisor, according to the memorandum, called him on the evening of Jan. 6, but Rodean didn't answer. Rodean called back the next day and responded to his supervisor's concerns about Rodean being in the Capitol by saying "it needed to be done."

His supervisor later testified that Rodean "idolized" Trump.

Rodean was fired the day after the attack, the News-Post reported.

He was later arrested on Jan. 13, 2021, in Washington, D.C.

Follow Clara Niel on Twitter: @clarasniel